Recompile was my first introduction into industry work. I joined a very small remote team where my job was to create block-outs of level concepts which were already produced whilst creating some of my own concepts and ideas on top of the foundations already built. Creating these block-outs I had to combine traditional Metroidvania-style interconnected levels with open world landscapes and with the aim to provide a unique immersive world for players to uncover.

Development Information:

• Game: Recompile

• Genre: Third-person Metroidvania

• Engine: Unity

• Development Time: 3 Months

Web

The web (pictured below) represented the structure of the worlds design, showing where each level had to be. This allowed me to map out the structure to setup the foundations of my block-outs. Each colour on the web demonstrates the different level types that are available, these are; Green (Earth), Yellow (Air), Blue (Water) & Red (Fire). These four archetypes represent the various unique play-styles within the game world.

+ Combat: Fire

+ Hacking: Water

+ Platforming: Air

Earth levels could show either one or multiple of these play-styles or throw the player into something never before experienced. The purpose of this was to vary what the player would experience on their journey towards the final goal.

Design Challenges

• Level spacing & pacing

With recompile I was tasked to block-out an extensive amount of levels within a small time frame, due to this one issue I faced was the spacing of the levels and a lack of variation in the pacing which in part would make the player feel the same rushed sense of dread I too felt during this process. Retrospectively, in the case of the world building as a whole, to better fit the nature of the scene that is being set, the cave as an element was actually tripled in size upon the realisation that at its original scale, it lacked the breathing room necessary to fit the scope and feel of the atmosphere that we were trying to deliver to the player in its original conception during this blocking-out period.

• Repetition of levels

The general concepts of levels within recompile that would form the basic flow of the game was mapped out to me during my introductory process with the company. Whilst blocking out initial designs I came across a lot of mechanical repetition while trying to make the areas fit the initial conceptualised idea. Whilst building these levels I decided to concept some of my own level ideas that would work with the pre-existing approach to give them more variety. One such aspect was stealth, with the paired notion of greater choice in game that would in turn affect the story. Giving the player a choice, once confronted with the enemy, to pursue or be a pacifist. This would individualise each player experience with alternative outcomes and appropriate rewards for certain playstyles throughout the process of completion.

• Ability usages

Keeping with the true Metroidvania style, there are soft and hard locks strategically placed throughout the game to subtly direct the player throughout the large expanse of levels. Although, this in turn created a problem with the placement of one such ability, known to now be the jetpack seen in the big climax of the final boss fight. This end state seen in the finished game was in fact the solution that ultimately was crafted, as there seemed to be no place where it could fit without causing various game braking issues that would ruin the hand-crafted immersion that makes the game so unique. This new fashioning of this power within the level design produced a type of wow factor within the final moments of the game really setting it apart from the rest and letting it shine through as a incontestable conclusion, while also giving something extra for the player to strive towards.

• In house editor

To begin with I used an in house editor as I thought this was essential for the delicate placement process required for an accurate gameplay experience, in which you could hack your way through puzzles with glowing pipes flowing with energy to create a symbolic representation of the power you would redirect to forge a path through the levels. One disadvantage of this process that became apparent was that while the design was very specific and purposeful in nature, due to its complexity (with an initial 150,000 blocks used) the performance was taking quite the hit. To work around this, I went through the whole process again optimising each area with unity pro-builder. This enabled me to massively increase the performance by using a singular cube per each area rather than the thousands of small modular cubes that initially represented the design. This enabled me to have the same result but in a lot more efficient way while also enabling me to carry this newly acquired efficiency into new, fresh projects.